Twilight
by Nellas Bean
Summary: A story on Washu's life based on the facts and o ton of my own opinions on her childhood and adulthood.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! And all its' characters belong to Pioneer.

How countlessly they congregate 

_O'er our tumultuous snow,_

_Which flows in shapes as tall as trees_

_When wintry winds do blow! -_

_As if with keenness for our fate,_

_Our faltering few steps on_

_To white rest, and a place of rest_

_Invisible at dawn-_

_And yet with neither love nor hate_

_These stars like some snow-white_

_Minerva's snow-white marble eyes_

_Without a gift in sight._

_(_**Stars**_, by Robert Frost)_

_Our knowledge is, ourselves to know._

_(Alexander Pope, _**An Essay on Man**_)_

_This my son was dead, _

_and is alive again;_

_he was lost, and is found._

_(Luke, _**15:45**_)_

Twilight 

_Fear…_ it is a human thing, like so many other things gods aren't allowed to experience. _Are we allowed?_ She thought not, her father, the one who created all, would not stand for such atrocity. She often wondered. _Wondering…_ that is also a human thing, and yet here she was, wondering. _Fear, love, hate…_ Every one of them, they were all human emotions. She sought to kick the wondering out of her system. _Goddess's do not feel these emotions… _she thought. Yes, goddess's are allowed to think, otherwise they'd be stupid compared to humans. _Though none of my sisters would thank me for that comment!_ She thought, smiling as she watched over the universe with care. Her vibrant red hair was spiky, jutting out in odd directions, though it just added to her intricate form. It was a human form, a form she often chose to be in when no one was around to see her. The Goddess's were spirits, nothing more. Their very existence was impossible to place, ephemeral, yet not ephemeral, physical, and yet not physical. They could choose whatever form they chose, whenever they wanted. She chose a human form because she loved the emotions that rolled over her like a steamroller. Every once in a while she would answer people's prayers, making a swift appearance in a human form, to give them confidence that she was real, not just a tale.

Her sisters were out, wandering the universe, quarreling. That was all they did, being so different. _Like human sisters…_ she thought, and laughed at it, putting her hands on her hips and laughing so loud it rang in her ears when she finally stopped. Wiping her eyes and laughing like a schoolgirl, she examined a planet called Kanemitsu. _If I were human, that would be the planet I'd choose to stay on. _She was surprised at the thought, and folding her arms in curiosity. She wasn't exactly evil, though she had, had her moments of frustration with a few planets, Jurai the most, the inhabitants so primitive and weak and yet they still thought themselves to be gods. She had let Tsunami have her way with them, but got a chance to take a few humans back and asked them questions. _Tokimi would laugh if she found out…_ she thought, smiling in remembrance of how frightened her captives had been when she asked them questions in her human form. She hadn't meant to scare them, well, not _that_ much anyway. The primitive's answered her questions in stutters before foaming at their mouth with fear.

She had put them back on their planet, and had her fun watching the other primitive's think them to be insane, leaving them in the streets to spread their condemned tale around like wildfire. She was not exactly good, either, though she had, had her time spending short periods as a human and seeing how it was down there. She had visited Kanemitsu; it was a beautiful planet, green in color with two moons, and lush vegetation wherever she had looked. The humans there weren't half-bad either, they honored the gods and gave them the respect expected from primitive's. They all treated each other with kindness, and let her alone when she passed through a village. The thieves were thoroughly punished, the homeless were allowed to stay at ones house for a time. None of them were treated with higher respect than anyone else; they had all settled their differences. She was happy to note that they didn't bother with money, as to not be tempted by greedy people, and all was traded, fairly.

It had been centuries since she was last on the planet, so she didn't know what had changed. She knew a lot, of course, but she didn't know everything, no one except their father knew everything; and he had passed away because of the making of the gems he had given the three, having put all his power into making them. But to know everything was a human ambition, so the sisters had not sought to know. She had never been a child, just a person created by their father. Tokimi was the oldest, but by far not the strongest, she herself was second, created but a few seconds after Tokimi, Tsunami soon after.

They were all just spirits then, purple, red, and blue puffs of air that were proudly watched on by their father. A few centuries later, when they all had the ability to form into physical form, their father had started in the work of making gems. Tokimi was most eager, she being one of power thought she had to have more so she could rule her dimension properly. Tsunami had been most reluctant in taking them, she not wanting people to fear her because of her power. The woman watching Kanemitsu, however, was neutral, not taking in any emotion whatsoever to make their father neither happy nor angry. _Happiness, anger…_ Those too were human emotions, yet all three of them felt it. Their father had been the only one who was not cursed or blessed with the emotions that erupted curiosity in the three of them. She had been given three gems, being the most powerful and the one that didn't succumb to evil or good, she simply _was. _

Tokimi was given two gems, for her to rule an entire dimension all her own. Tsunami was granted one gem, for she wanted everyone to be treated equal, and not trick them into obeying her out of fear. Kanemitsu shifted, turning it's shifting course abruptly. She had seen this happen only once before, the planet stops in it's turning for a whole month, and then starts to jerk in the opposite direction it had before. This rare event happened only every two billion years, so everyone on the planet never remembers the tale. Though the planet two billion years ago had been nothing more than a mass of rock with vegetation growing and monkey-looking animals along with a few others traveled around. It was hard to say when exactly the monkeys lost their fur and turned human, the only one who knew that was their father, and he had died with the knowledge.

She still recalled the day they received the gems, Tokimi had been trying to get her to join forces and help rule her dimension in fear. She had refused, not wanting any part in either side. She was. Tsunami had asked her to help her let the humans know that she was only there to help, not to destroy. She had quietly refused also, for the same reason. She simply was. Their father had favored her for that factor, and that was why he claimed her the Goddess of Chaos and given her the three gems. She was called that because she would never help when a war was waging, only watch. She would never consist in anything good, or bad. She just, _was. _Chaos because she would do nothing in favor of humans, or the gods, not even herself. She wasn't evil, she wasn't caring, was. 

Their father had then named Tokimi the Goddess of Power, which she made crystal clear in her dimension. He had then named Tsunami Goddess of Nature, and she smiled to him. Their father passed away soon after that, and his Divine body disintegrated into the air. The making of the gems was all of his power, _all of it_; he put forth all he could muster into the magical round gems. It was the reason he died, having no more Divine power left in his soul.

She fingered the three green dots on her forehead, they had appeared gradually when their father let the gem into her wrists and throat, new power flowing through her being. Their father had said the power was within the all along, but the gems had been the key. So, in other words, father's power was the key.

_'Here again?_' A voice echoed in her head, startling her and swiftly turning around to see Tsunami staring at her with those dark red eyes.

_'Fighting again?'_ She asked in the same tone, turning around and watching Kanemitsu once more. They were in the Divine dimension, more commonly known as Heaven to the humans. Many long dead spirits roamed around freely in there, for the first time knowing true happiness, questioning their stupid fear of dying while the time they were alive. Hell also existed, though it was on the other side of the universe completely, very few spirits roamed in agony there yet, yet all three of them knew that one day there will be one time when Hell had more spirits that Heaven.

_'Yes, fighting again,'_ Tsunami muttered, walking over to the woman and watching the planet with her, also in human form. _'I see you do this very often, Washu,'_ she said into Washu's mind, also in human form. _'You see correctly, then,'_ she returned, not bothering to see her with her own eyes. A silence passed, they both knew Tokimi watched them that very moment, but they both also knew she was probably too busy to watch them.

_'You're jealous.'_ Tsunami suddenly said, staring straight into Washu's clouded eyes.

_'Jealous of what, might I ask, Tsunami? Humans?' _She spat; trying to put all the venom she could into the word, humans. 

_'Yes. I have seen you stand there for days now; I see a sudden flare of sadness in your eyes when a child dies. I see a flash of anger at a thief! Washu, Sister, you are acquiring human emotions by the day. Each day you think more along the lines of a human, every hour you try to fight the fact that you want to be human!'_

Washu struck Tsunami.

Tsunami ignored the gesture and stared right into Washu's pools of emerald, a stern gaze, one of which the other had never seen before. Washu realized her flaw a mere five seconds after she slapped her, and ogled at her palm, which by now was tinting red. "Oh, no…" Washu spoke aloud, using her tongue instead of her mind.

The cyan haired goddess felt no pain in the blow to her cheek, expecting it when she confronted her sister with her observations. She was surprised to see, however, that Washu's hand was turning red with the power in the strike. _'Do you deny it now?'_ she asked deftly, seeing Washu's saddened face stare disbelievingly at her hand.

The red head was puzzled. '_Goddess's shouldn't be feeling pain!_' she screamed at herself, so utterly confused.

Confusion… 

"I'm turning human!" she shrieked, staring at her sisters' eyes with angst. Tsunami continued to watch while Washu went through wave after wave of emotion, all different, all human emotions. She hadn't meant to be like a hammer striking a nail into wood, but she knew human emotions well enough that if her sister had gone on like this, Washu, Goddess of Chaos, would finally choose a side. There were no sides with her, which was the way it was supposed to be. It was startling to note that mere human emotions could have such an effect on a being that wasn't supposed to choose. _She never chose._ Tsunami had come up with the answer for her sister's behavior hours ago, and was relieved that she had been the first to get to her before Tokimi could warp her confused mind.

She never chose, and now it was confusing her.

Tsunami was not intent on getting her to choose sides, only to help jog her into the knowledge that she was acquiring emotions. Washu had denied the knowledge long enough, and now it was frightening her.

"Sister, I mean no ill harm when I say these things. I merely say them because I have noticed the change in your actions over the past millennia. Now that you have been among mortals more than a couple times, you've come to know their ways and have become accustomed to watching them. I say these things only in the help that you will not choose sides, and so that you are aware of what is happening. I myself know what emotions feel like, though I do not feel them as strongly as you do. Tokimi feels them as well, yet as you do, she denies their existence. I am not one who has full knowledge of emotions, only a short briefing by traveling once among mortals as you have. I can only support my help, and hope that you will get through this pickle you're apparently stuck in," Tsunami said aloud, in the most sincere voice she had, which was not far from her normal one. She watched as her physical words had a drastic effect on her sister.

"No change!" Washu shouted, staring once again at her hand, "I'm turning human, Tsunami! I need help!"

Tsunami watched in disbelief at the next moment.

Washu was crying.

Crying… 

_************************************************************************** _

Three million years have passed, and Washu's emotions are sharper than ever. Tsunami had kept what was happening to her a secret from Tokimi, knowing that she would use her and warp her mind into choosing at last. Washu had walked among humans more often than not, but still kept a steady rhythm in knowing that it was time to go back up before Tokimi noticed her disappearance. Sometimes Chaos stayed years at a time, mere blinks to a being that has lived as long as she. Tsunami kept close watch on her the entire time, only breaking to deal with the people of Jurai, whom still had the knack of feeling like they were the all Supreme.

Washu spent no time anymore as her original form of a spirit, always in her human form, letting people know that she could feel! It was joyous to her to see the people of the village respect her because of her outward ness, not bothering to hide anything except nudity. Tsunami had once teased her about a couple men who bobbled after her here and then, though she always shooed them off with a diss or two. Tokimi hadn't been seen by either of them for centuries, having been claiming she had fun doing what cruelty she was doing in her dimension. More and more, however, Washu was starting to choose, a fact that Tsunami reluctantly admitted to be her fault, having been there and talked to her many times.

Many times she almost turned back the clock and undid what she had said to Washu, she knew she had the power to do that. The risk was that Tokimi might sometime in the time she might change warp her mind like Tsunami had predicted. Kanemitsu still happened to be Washu's favorite planet, and the people hadn't changed much, though they did start the use of paper money, and they had built an academy, a science one at that.

Washu had immediately taken a liking to science, she'd always been interested in the subject, but the primitive's weren't advanced enough to do it with her. When they built the academy, she had helped build a large amount of it. It took the better part of ten years to build, Washu enjoying the physical exertion she was getting from working day after day. She never got tired of it.

For the first time in her life, Chaos was truly happy.

Tsunami was glad for her, noticing that she herself was receiving more emotions everyday she watched Washu have her time with the humans. Father would've never allowed it, though he never voiced what he said, the first words were the titles he had gave them, and those had been his last. Even now she could feel his spirit in the Divine world glaring at the two of them, especially at Washu for living among mortals.

Tsunami ignored it; he couldn't do anything now, and grinned in remembrance of the proud day the academy was finished. Yes, that had been a very bright day indeed throughout the universe. Washu and the thousands of other men had cheered and drank all the beer they could lay their hands on. Washu had won over all of the men; drinking more than five hundred bottles while all the others were blacked-out on the ground. It was then that she had decided to come back to Tsunami, and they laughed upon the baffled faces of the men when they tried to search for her after days of being totally zonked. Most of the men who woke up had hangover's that lasted a day, and many of them lost memory of the past few weeks for a while.

Everything was at peace, no one was warring, though the Jurains still thought they ruled the universe, though they now highly respected Tsunami, and worshipped her like no other. Tsunami had smacked some sense into their thick heads that they were not all supreme, by scaring them with a fraction of her power. Of that Washu was thankful of, because they kept raiding Kanemitsu for their goods. Washu was at the moment back at her old spot in space, looking down on the planet with every positive emotion on her face.

_'So…you have chosen, at long last, you have chosen, Median.'_ A sly voice said mentally, startling Washu from her thoughts, she hadn't heard mental talk in millennia's. "Tokimi?" she asked aloud, and the sound of a laugh was returned. _'You even speak like a human. So, Father was right.'_ The statement startled her even more, "What do you mean, Sister?" she asked flatly, turning around to face Tokimi in the face.

_'I mean that you are no longer neutral! You have chosen to be on that wench Tsunami's side! That woman doesn't even know how to rule her own planet let alone help her sister! Look what she's done to you!'_ Tokimi snapped, the words meant as whips. "She hasn't done anything! If something, she's helped me beyond thankfulness! You would've warped my confused mind if I had stayed like I was any longer!" she argued, glowering at her cruel relative. _'Confused? You were confused? Humans are the ones confused! Washu, you're becoming human! I can prevent that from happening, join with me and we'll rule together, I'll give you back your Goddess nature! I can-'_

"You can do nothing! Even if you could I wouldn't let you warp my mind, Tokimi! You can't touch my mind; you just want my gems! I love the way I feel! I love humans! They're simple and don't have to worry about ruling the entire universe! If you would just listen to your emotions you would at least feel some of the way _I_ do!" Washu spoke to her, voicing all of her emotions in her eyes, "I don't care if I lose my title, Median or Chaos, nothing! All of it means nothing to me anymore!" the words were frightening even to her, and Tokimi's eyes were as large as barrels.

_'Well, Father? Is what she says true?'_ Tokimi mentally asked to her shoulder, where a gray spirit sat.

Washu was stunned, "You brought a spirit out of the Divine! What have you done? What have you done, Tokimi?" she muttered to herself, receiving a malicious grin from her sister while whispers were sent through the air. The whispers were chilling to the bone; Washu swore that she was freezing. Tokimi looked back from the gray cloud and whispered to Washu herself, _'Father says your actions are unforgivable, and what you say is true. If that is so, you will live eternally among mortals! That's your wish, isn't it? To be a human?' _she said the word in disgust.

Out of the air, Tsunami appeared.

"Stop this at once!" she shouted, whipping Tokimi mentally with the words. "You cannot force Washu to choose! You will be sealed forever in another dimension until she comes back to release you!"

Tokimi muttered three words and then Tsunami was as still as stone.

No, she was as still as a tree.

The elder sister garbled another word and the tree was flung towards Jurai.

'No that the garbage is gone, let's deal with the mouse. Will you join me, or live forever among humans?'

Washu was speechless, "You killed her!"

'She is sealed into a tree, that is all, she will be imprisoned for a time before you free her. That is, if you remember of course.'

"Father!" Washu shouted, flying at top speed toward the gray cloud, "Father! Listen to me!"

'Send her to Kanemitsu, she will not join us, daughter,' a silent voice said, though Washu could hear it crystal clear.

Tokimi agreed and muttered a few words and soon the Median was still.

"Father!" she tried to shout, but was hurled away at the speed of light.

Thus, Washu Hakubi was born.

**_Author's Notes:_**_ Okay, that went better than expected. I've decided to write Washu's Journal over again, since I wasn't getting anywhere with the Deltan stuff. I'll try to do as much research as I can so I can make an accurate story, you see, I want to try and make it like Hitoshi Okuda planned it out. The next chapter Washu is a little girl with nothing more than the knowledge of her name, and the ability to fly. But I do want you opinions so please give me some! Um, well, since I'm going to be replacing Washu's Journal with Twilight, Puppet on a String is going to be put on hold until I have the first four chapters of this up. I'm sorry if Tsunami's Goddess name is wrong, but I don't have the Internet working right now so I'll just say that she's nature, okey-dokey? (Smile) I hope you enjoy my story, Twilight! Oh yeah, I edited the whole thing myself, and there are no mistakes! Even save it and check it on Microsoft Word!_


	2. Stormy Skies

Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! And all its' characters belong to Pioneer. _Note that this disclaimer accounts for all the chapters, all of them._

_I was taken out of my true self._

_I was a spirit and knew…_

_the secrets of nature,_

_bird flight,_

_star wanderings,_

_and the way the fish glide._

_-Merlin, quoted in Geoffrey Monmouth's _

_Twelfth-century book _**VITA MERLINI**_-_

_The world from which the stories came_

_Lies still within the astral mists…_

_-_**W.B. Yeats**_-_

_He that made with his hond_

_Wynd and water, wode and lond;_

_Geve heom alle good endying_

_That wolon listne this talkying,_

_A y schal telle, yow byfore,_

_How Merlyn was geten and bore_

_And of his wisdoms also_

_And other happes mony mo_

_Sum whyle befeol in Engelonde._

_-From the thirteenth-century ballad_

OF ARTHOUR AND OF MERLIN_-_

**_Author's Notes: _**_Okay, I'm going to try very hard on editing properly, so the chapters may take a day longer to post than usual because I can't notice my mistakes until I read it again the next day. Also, the word 'Matron' is not stolen from FFVIII, yes the game helped me in coming by the word, but here are the definitions straight from the dictionary:_

_(1) __A married woman or widow, esp. one who has a mature appearance and matter_

_(2) __A woman superintendent or manager of the domestic arrangements of a hospital, prison, or other institution_

_(3) __A woman attendant or guard in charge of women or children, as in an institution._

_So you see? I'll be using the name 'Matron' for the abbey Washu goes to, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about the meaning, which I assume means a mother in an orphanage, right? Yet again, feel perfectly free to correct me in some categories. At the end of the story (which won't be for a really, long time, I'll be putting up acknowledgements and thank-you's to people who are helping me through the research or are just plain reading. Anyways, I'll be hoping that the people who aren't reviewing but are reading are enjoying the fiction, and I'm trying hard not to be a bore with it. I get the Greek Legends of Zeus and all from 'Daulaires' Book of Greek Myths' it's a very good book, and the drawings in it are superb, one of the best myth books I've seen yet._

-Chapter One- Stormy Skies 

The storm was rapidly clearing, that much she could tell from her position by the window. Sun rays broke through the chains the cloudy sky had held them in for two weeks, casting a soft warm light on the woman's face. She lifted her hand and brushed the strands of black hair behind her ears, smiling a half-smile while wondering how long it had been since she felt the sun's warm gaze. "Too long," she muttered half-heartedly, standing up at a medium pace as to not have the blood rushing from her head. The room she was in was plain, a simple bed in the far corner, and a red carpet on the thinly carpeted floor. The woman stretched, her arms nearly reaching the ceiling had it not been for her weak leg. Nothing was wrong with it; she could lean on it and run if she wanted to, but too much weight on it for too long caused it to cramp up and be totally useless for hours. Closing the oak shudder, though opening the blinds so the sun could bathe the room with its' glow, she moved to the heavy door and walked through, leaving it half-open for easy passage later.

Servants were madly rushing everywhere, tending to small children crying over spilt milk or other. The hallways were nicely kept, round and simple with concrete, a few bulletin boards here and there for the children to post their arts of work. The girls were usually the ones posting their flower pictures; the boys just had blue scribbles that meant nothing to anyone but the person who drew it.

"Matron! Matron!" shouted one of the servants, rushing idly to her. Her brown hair was tousled; it looked like she had run the two hundred meter race five times in a row. "What is it, Ji?" the Matron asked back, worried at how much exertion was worth with the way Ji looked. "In…the village," she gasped, gulping in large gulps of air to continue her message, "A little girl…floating…she's so small, Matron…" the servant said, kneeling onto the ground and clutching her abs, "Go…see it…yourself…she's so small…" the abbey owner knelt down, careful not to put too much weight on her left leg, she patted Ji's back, "Thank you, I'll go right away."

"The storm…ripped apart…she flew through the clouds! The clouds…parted…for her passage…so small, so small…" the girl curled up into a ball, clutching her knees to her chest tightly, repeating how small she was many times.

Matron stood up and ran down the hallways, passing many children crying because the rain stopped, or the sun was scaring them. They were all orphans; all abandoned when they were babies, and didn't know much about the world except terror. She burst through the thick front door and rushed to the village.

It was small, just little shacks, shops, and privies; the townspeople couldn't afford much. They farmed; a windmill was nearby pumping water as she jogged. The paved streets cool touch reached the bottoms of her feet as her thin boots clapped against the stone. "Make way for Matron!" one of the people shouted, spotting her. The crowd was large; almost all of the villagers were surrounding a little girl levitating some ten feet off the ground, three little dots glowing frantically on her tiny forehead. Her purple robes seemed a size too big on her, but her brilliant red hair was long enough to make it look like it fitted her body just fine, it was so long. She was unconscious, or maybe just sleeping, nothing seemed to be wrong with her except that she was defying gravity.

Ji was right, she was small, even if she was only three years old; she, the little girl, was extremely small for her age. "Get her down! The storm may come back!" shouted an old feeble man, swinging his cane at the small toddler. "Be quiet old man! Matron has something to say!" hollered another woman. All eyes turned on the abbey's owner. Blinking a couple of times in frustration, she stated in a calm voice, "Get her down, and ask around to see if anyone's missing a child."

The crowd all hummed in disappointment, but one man lifted another and was able to pull the girl down with little resistance. "Bring her to me," she commanded, and watched as the young man laid the small girl in front of her. The three glowing dots on the girl's forehead were dulling into a soft buzz, but other than that there was no activity flowing through her. _'Poor girl…'_ Matron thought to herself, fingering the child's neck for a pulse. "She's alive…just not breathing well, I'll go take her to the doctor, you people keep looking for her parents,"

_'If she has any…'_ she said behind their backs.

The man nodded and went into the abyss of people rushing around, asking friends who might know friends, and friends asking friends who know other friends. Matron knelt over and lifted the girl up carefully, trying not to disturb her peaceful slumber. The abbey owner looked around herself, searching for the healing center, probably the only rich and good-looking place in the village besides the orphanage itself. Cradling her, the girl weighed nothing in Matron's strong arms, her long red hair falling betwixt her left hand's fingers. Walking around slowly, as to not disturb her weaker leg, the woman made herself get used to the lopsided feeling of only truly putting her weight on one foot with a child in her arms. The villagers moved, giving her easy passage through the small crowd. The wind was nice, giving the owner a gentle breeze of cool air from the body-heat everyone was making by rushing around. Spotting the building, which were in itself about five stories high, Matron tried to ignore the cramps getting little by little worse with each step.

People still made way; after all, she _was_ one of the most respected in the small town. The girl didn't flinch once when the woman stumbled slightly, some young man or woman catching her before she went totally off balance. Everyone knew of her legs' disability to go long distances, so one was almost always by her to catch the abbey owner. The pavement gradually turned into soft grass that tickled the bares of her feet when they tapped the ground. The building was made of brick, cement and mud mixed together to make a stiff walling, and it had been up for more than a century without even the slightest bit of damage. Of course, the people took shifts and all helped to clean up the village everyday. The orphans themselves, when they were of age and weren't so terrified, made themselves useful and gardened and watered the plants. They were rarely adopted, though few had long gone years ago by some would-be parents that wanted a child badly.

Shrugging it off, Matron pushed into the door and walked inside, making a quick bow of respect to the child guarding the door. The inside was very much like the out, the ground was made of dirt, flowers sprouting here and there and a soft layer of grass on the whole thing. They, the townspeople, thought that having nature grow inside a house was good luck or fortune, and so cat-claws crawled up the brick wall. The building would've been made of sticks and mud, but the people a century ago weren't that stupid, they needed a sturdy building and so they used the brick, but made sure that mud was used in the making.

"Yes?" a woman asked, facing her from sitting on an old stump in the corner, five chairs hand-carved lined each side of the room, each with a little leaf shape with intricate designs of veins in it, a sign of thanks to the dead tree. Matron leaned onto a wall and rested all her weight onto her right leg, giving her other weaker one a chance to recuperate. "May you check on this girl?" the abbey owner asked in a polite voice, sitting down in the oak chair. Noting the girl with little interest, the young woman nodded and called out for Grandfather, whom was the elder of the village and was highly respected, though not overly. Many of the people thought themselves as equals, and only thought one higher than another if they were wise, noble, and weren't afraid to lead their own life, not follow in another's footsteps for an easier way out.

An old man walked into the room, using an oak cane (of which also had a small leaf shape carved on it), and though the wrinkles of age shone, his body had denied the age and he was able to act as though he were a middle-aged man, not the feeble one he had grown to be. "What is it, Lan?" he asked in a raspy tone, as though he had used it too often. The woman sitting in the corner was startled by the question, jumping in her seat, though tried hard to conceal her mistake. "Matron would like you to look at that girl, Grandfather," Lan stated, composing herself cleverly and went back staring into space, meditating.

The old man looked back at the owner of the abbey and held out his hand for support, lifting the middle-aged woman and helping with the girl probably no older than three in her arms. "Come with me," he said in a serene voice, touching the girl's forehead with two fingers before walking into the room he was previously in, the soft dirt padding his footsteps. Matron followed, pausing every few moments to rest, 'Blast this leg…' she though to herself, finally making way into a slightly bigger room with a tree planted by a wooden bed (of which had a more intricate carving of a leaf on the corner) with leaves covering the whole top to serve as a mattress, a pillow weaved out of thin branches and stuffed with spongy leaves that were dead, but had the softness of being alive. "Sit," Grandfather said politely, motioning towards a stump by the bed. Inwardly thanking the heavens, Matron stepped over to the bed and set the little girl down, and then finally taking a seat herself.

The roof was made from vines, the villagers had planted cats claws vines over a century ago on all side, keeping a good account that it should not get in the way of the door, and so the building made of brick looked more like a building made entirely of vines. Sunlight broke through the so-called canopy and warmed the room gradually, which of course smelled like rain for it had sprinkled and poured for two weeks. The Grandfather was seated across from the abbey owner, eyeing both the girl and the woman with a growing interest. "So tell me the story," he stated cheerfully, leaning his chin onto his cane and staring at Matron with dark brown eyes.

The woman complied, and told him all her knew up to the present point, and the old man listened without intervening once. The girl on the bed did not fidget once, the three glowing spots on her forehead were gone except for the small circles that shown faintly, one would not notice then if they were just talking casually to her. Nothing was going on in her mind; her breathing was in short patterns and came not very often, her heartbeat reduced to reluctant beating, as if she had given up the will to live and her body was listening to her will. But if it weren't so painstakingly impossible to believe, that's what they would have assumed, but given the look of her age, they were both forced to admit that it couldn't be, such a small girl did not have a care in the world for life or death. In fact, she probably didn't even know what death was, being only a toddler at most.

"Is there anything you can do?" Matron asked, finally turning her head so she looked at the unconscious girl, watching her chest rise and fall faintly. Grandfather was silent for a few minutes, and then answered in the same calm voice, "I'll do what I can, I'll send for you if I make any progress, Ellen." Nodding, the woman stood up and made a bow to him, turning briskly around and walking into the room where Lan was meditating, though she held the position where she must've fallen asleep.

Waiting for Ellen to leave, and smiling when he heard the creaking of the door click as it hit the brick wall, the old man turned his attention to the small girl on the bed. He did not take pity on her, however. Kanemitsins tend to think that if you pity one who has ill fortune or died for no particular reason, is to pity the will of the goddess', and they though they would be severely punished for wanting to change their course of fate. Grandfather stood up, leaning onto his cane and stepping to the girl with vibrant red hair. Making his way so he was closer to the side, he stooped over and examined the girl's face closely, taking what information he could by looking at her features.

Standing erect once more, he muttered aloud, "Three years old. No parents; no past. So…she is a gift from the gods. She will do well if raised in the abbey," he knew every person in the town by heart, whether he only saw them once as a baby, he would recognize them if he saw them fifty years later, just by looking at their eyes. "My, my, my… Little one, you are going to have a rough life, I give you my blessing and prayers that you'll live long and peaceful."

*** 

Ellen made her way back to the orphanage, where children were now running around, playing, or finishing up their day's chores. When they saw her approach, almost all of them, especially the small ones, came running up to her and hugging her fiercely; some of them showing her a new trick. "Story!" cried one small boy, jumping up and down and trying to voice his favorite story title above the other kid's that were now begging for one. "Settle down, children," she stated calmly, and they all complied, eager eyes staring at her with a fiery hope. "Well, now," Matron said, smiling, "Zeus?"

Many of the boys nodded, a majority of the girls smiled and nodded, closing their eyes and pretending to be riding in Zeus's chariot, riding through the stars. "I'll take that as a yes, those who are still awake after, I will tell another," 

"Yaaayyy!" shouted several, quickly grabbing a water bottle and sitting down around a chair that was worn from several years of use. Ellen smiled as more children and even a couple of maids rushed out of the abbey to join the growing group.

"Shall I start with the birth of the planet?" Matron asked.

"Yes! Yes!" was the answer.

Grinning, the abbey owner began, and all was silent except for a few footsteps of some villagers who wanted to hear the story as well. "Once upon a time…"

A few hours later she finished the story, receiving hugs from children who were still awake, and quiet applause from the adults who chose to listen. Most of the adults had been raised in the abbey, and were fond of returning to hear the storytelling of the owner, though she had been the owner for many years, even before the adults great-grandfather might've been born. All of the smaller one's were sound asleep, leaning onto one another for warmth and pillowing, smiling in their sleep because they might be watching the story take shape in their dream. Many villagers helped by bringing the sleeping children blankets, and then sat down for the other story she had promised, all of them liked sleeping outside when Ellen told her stories and the weather was at peace with them.

"You choose, Mother," a young girl asked, looking no older than thirteen. A boy around fifteen nodded, pulling his blanket tighter around himself, warming up his cold limbs. A maid tended to twins that were shivering, both trying to share the blanket evenly, but ending up in pulling it too far one way or another. "Well…" Matron began, cupping her chin in deep thought, "How about Coronus?" many of them nodded, the few who did not were either half-asleep, or trying hard to stay up and listen. "All right, I will start with the birth of the Titans…"

Everyone was asleep before she was halfway through the story.

"Splendid," came a new voice, as soon as she had finished her tale, no matter what the consequence, she never left a story half-told or unfinished. "Thank you, Grandfather," she returned in response, rising to her feet and giving him a respectful bow. "No need for that, Ellen, I came to listen to your story, it calms my heart to hear them," he, the Grandfather, had raised her himself when he found her in the streets. Though that was so long ago both of them faintly remembered, but the old man remembered clearly what she had looked like that day. "Is she all right?" Ellen asked, no one but him called her that anymore. Nodding, he replied, laying down a blanket he had brought with him onto a young girl shivering in a ball, "Yes, she is all right. She's just unconscious, but there's no health problem whatsoever in her, she's never been sick. She's three years old; she has no parents…she just appeared. Those gems she has are just gems, there's nothing special that I can see in them, mentally nor physically. 

"The eye color she has, it's an emerald green; I've never seen one to have such a bright pink hair color also. She's not awake yet, but if we wait for awhile, I'm sure the gods will let her experience the world, like us."

Matron smiled, "That's good, for a moment I thought she was going to be an unhealthy girl," she knelt down and patted a toddler's back, whom was clutching a bear he had been found with. "If no one in the village will adopt her, I'll be glad to take her in, Grandfather."

The old man leaned onto his cane and seemed to be in deep thought, and then added jokingly, "Lan was very embarrassed to find out she had fallen asleep while meditating. Ah, here she is," he said, and pointed his wooden cane to a woman sleeping soundly by a tree, smiling in her sleep. "It's been awhile since I had a crown this big…" Ellen muttered, looking around herself to see how many there were actually. "Fifty-six, to be exact, don't worry, I counted. It's been a while since you've told a story that the whole village has come to love," the Grandfather said, staring back at Matron.

"I know…" Ellen said sadly, looking at the old man once more. "My I see her in the morning? It's not in my mind to leave the children alone, so if you may, I am asking if I can see her,"

"You may, I doubt I could stop you anyway, " he added with a chuckle, grinning.

"Well, it is late, I'll be going to sleep now. Goodnight, Grandfather," she said, laying down on the ground, using her arm for a pillow.

"Let the gods allow you to have a restful slumber, Ellen," he added, turning around and walking to the healing house.

*** 

The girl still lay on the bed undisturbed, not moved an inch since Matron brought her there. A quiet breeze ruffled some stray spiky hair, swaying it in the wind. Her breathing was coming in more, her chest rising and falling more casually now. Still nothing was in her head, but now her eyes fidgeted behind her lids, as if searching for something. The dots on her head were gone now, and yet the three orbs in her pocket were a mystery still to the old man. So round and perfect, human hands couldn't have made it; it was too perfect for that. There was no flaw in the orb, and the red coloring was darker than any ruby he had ever seen. He then assumed that they must've been forged by the gods, he trusted their will; and did not question why they were there.

Her green eyes had startled him when he opened her lid to see them, so pretty; he'd seen green eyes before, but never this emerald shade. The one's he had seen were tinted with ember towards the pupil, and the shade was darker than the one this girl had. The Grandfather hadn't lied when he said she was perfectly healthy, or when she had never been sick. He had left her company, confident in knowing that no one could get into the room without his help, tying a knot in the ropes that held the door shut, and then locking it with a branch that only he could open.

The moonlight passed deftly through, shining the girl's face and making her face seem even more peaceful than it actually was. Her purple robes were wrapped tightly enough around her body to make sure they didn't fall off, but a sharp tug could snatch it off if one wanted to. Flower petals were sprinkled all around her, red in color, and one candle shining brightly a short distance away, far enough from vegetation to not cause a fire. These were meant to help her through the void of death, but not too much, if the gods chose that it was time for her to die, it was her time.

Days went by, and still no sign of her waking up. Ellen visited on a regular basis, wanting to be there when she woke up. Some villagers went to send her their prayers too, but not many. One day a mere child walked in and sat next to her for almost three hours, saying nothing, just watching her the entire time, no one intervened, for among their people it was exceedingly rude to enter in on another sitting with the sick or the wounded. The boy was only eight, but was only four mentally. His parents had abandoned him when an animal charged at them, he still had a scar where the animals' claws scratched his arm, and he was lucky to have some people roaming around find him in time. Shortly after he left, Matron entered once again.

"Any idea on when she'll wake up?" she asked, she always did, but the old man was polite and didn't tell her the same answer twice.

"By Tsunami I don't, the gods will decide," the answer was always in some form like that, not wanting to put down her spirits by saying the same thing over and over.

Her storytelling had been more depressing one's each night. One she had told the tale of Branwen, and one other tale that was so sad there was not one dry eye in the audience when she was finished. The incense he burned was filling the room with a smoky odor, but an odor that smelled nice to him and to the people who entered his room. "Today's the day, I know it. I had a dream last night that she awoke, an-oh my god."

Startled at her pause, the Grandfather turned around to see two emerald eyes from the girl. Ellen nearly fainted, but thanked the gods and walked over to the small toddler, whom had not moved but her eyes were staring upward, not taking notice of anything going on around her. "You are awake," the abbey owner said tearfully, smiling at the small girl, though she noticed that the toddler wasn't paying her any heed. The Grandfather walked over and stood next Matron, also smiling down at the girl.

"What should we name her?" Ellen asked, holding the girl's hand in a gentle grip.

"We? I think the village should name her; after all, she is a gift from above. Or maybe she knows what her name is, how about it?" Grandfather returned, starting to get immensely curious as to why the girl was not moving at all.

"Yes…you are right, as always," she said, giving the hand a soft squeeze to try and alert the girl's attention. Still she did nothing. "Perhaps she can't move yet?" Ellen asked, trying to figure it out also. "No…let me try something," the old man said quietly, and reached his hand over the toddler's head; and snapped. The girl blinked immediately, her breaths coming in more quickly, her hand suddenly gripping Ellen's tightly, so tight in fact that her small knuckles turned white. Cold sweat broke out on her face, and she whimpered softly.

"You scared her!" Matron cried, trying to comfort the panicking toddler.

"Jump start is the term I prefer to use, but yes, I scared her," Grandfather replied, his aged eyes asking forgiveness of the two of them. 

Nodding briskly, Ellen used her other hand to brush the girls hand clutching onto her own as if for dear life. She tried hard not to gasp when the toddler turned her eyes toward her. The Grandfather was also surprised. Neither of them had ever seen a person, so, utterly, lost.

**_Author's Notes: _**_Well, what do you think? I'm getting too many ideas for my own good on this story (which I know will wear out too soon) that boy that stayed with Washu, will make an appearance in the next chapter, he'll actually be her first friend! After, of course, she learns how to walk/talk/socialize, and other basics you need to survive. Still, the offer stands, email me or write in your review any complaint you may have, or even some tips! I really need them, well, I guess I could do without them…anyways; I'm looking for an editor that's up to editing! I don't really need one either, but if you want to, I'll let one person who offers to be an editor (IF THEY'RE UP TO IT) be warned, however, if you just want to be editor who just wants to screw up my story and post it for their own, I WILL ask the FF.net people to deal with you. So with that said, I hope you're enjoying the story!_


	3. Meaningless

Chapter Two 

**_Meaningless_**

He halted in the wind, and-what was that 

_Far in the maples, pale, but not a ghost?_

_He stood there bringing March against his thought,_

_And yet too ready to believe the most_

_"Oh, that's the Paradise-in-Bloom," I said;_

_And truly it was fair enough for flowers_

_Had we but in us to assume in March_

_Such white luxuriance of May for ours._

_We stood a moment so, in a strange world,_

_Myself as one his own pretense deceives;_

_And then I said the truth (and we moved on)._

_A young beech clinging to its last year's leaves._

_(_**A Boundless Moment**_ written by Robert Frost)_

_* _

The girl on the bed was still sweating vehemently, her lost eyes staring at the duo standing beside her wooden bed. Her hand still squeezed Ellen's compactly for support, though her scare was starting to wear off. "Can you speak?" the woman asked, trying to placate her the best she could by patting her small hand. The toddler didn't answer, only looking more confused. Letting out a small whimper, barely audible to the two next to her, the girl said in a tiny voice, "Can you speak?"

Both of them were relieved, yet bamboozled at the same time. The Grandfather pulled up a chair for Matron, and then as soon as she was seated pulled up a stump for himself, leaning his chin onto the curve of his cane. "Do you understand?" Ellen tried again, flinching when she saw the girl's face confused once more. "Do you understand?" the girl repeated, her green eyes meeting Matron's for a long while. Sighing, the middle-aged woman slumped into her chair, looking at the old man for help. "Well," the Grandfather started, taking a good look at the small girl's confused face, "It would seem that she could talk fluently, yet the words have no meaning to her," noting the abbey owner's baffled face, he continued, "Take this for example. You hear another language entirely, yet you don't know what the words mean. So the only thing you can do to prove you can speak their language is to mimic what another is saying all together. Here, watch,"

The old man shifted in his seat, making it so he was staring directly at the girl; lifting an aged hand (who's knuckles showed clearly, and the blue veins showing themselves to the world) he set it on the three year olds forehead. Closing his eyes and concentrating, he spoke to her mind instead. The girl suddenly jerked under his grasp, not knowing what to do with the sudden intrusion to her brain. _'Out! Out!'_ she shouted in her mind, and yet having no knowledge at all of where she had learned the meaning of the words from. "She can speak," the Grandfather stated, "She's a telepath," Ellen looked better, settling down at the news and continued comforting the girl who was scared at the intrusion in her brain. "Can you find out her name?" she asked after a long while, the girl repeating it soon after. "No, her mind seems to have the memories behind her locked, I can't get to them, but I might if I probe her mind gently; maybe bringing a little of her memory back."

The toddler looked enormously horrified as the old man reached his hand out to her temple once more. She snatched her hand away from Ellen and rolled off the divan on the other side, away from the two before Grandfather could lay a hand on her head again. Only thing was; they heard a thunk that seemed to be louder than that of a three year old should make.

Matron got up from her seat and walked over to the terrified girl. Through the old man's eyes, however, it seemed as if the abbey owner had a heart attack when she got over to the other side. "O-h, m-m-my lord…" she whispered, seeing more than just a girl cowering in the corner at the sight of her. The Grandfather stepped over to see what was wrong, and nearly had a cardiac arrest as well. A young woman looking exactly like the girl, only seeming to look twenty or so; was recoiling in the corner, backing up as far as the wall would let her. Her clothes seemed to mature with her, the purple robe she was wearing now large enough to fit her body as tightly as it should. "A meta morph…" the old man said in awe, as the girl suddenly switched to a twelve year old body, and then back to her toddler state. "Class C ranking at least," Ellen, avowed, inching toward the small girl slowly, as to not frighten her too much.

The child yelped, and crawled away from her, spotting the old man trying to follow. "Stay back!" Matron snapped, not willingly, to him. The Grandfather, obliging, walked as far from the girl as possible to give her comfort, but stayed in the same room. Seeing him move away, the girl seemed at ease, but still tense at the woman getting ever closer to her. Scooting away, the girl was scared of the abbey owner because she didn't do a thing to stop that old man from entering her mind. "It's all right, little girl, I won't hurt you," Ellen said quietly, pausing in her steps to let the girl get comfortable with the closing distance. Not convinced, but loosening her muscles at the serene tone in her voice, the girl stayed where she was. Noting this with a slight satisfaction, Matron took another step, and paused. The same routine continued until she was next to the girl entirely. Crouching down and gathering the tense girl in her arms, Ellen hugged her gently, a hug that she gave all of the children to let them know that she would always be there no matter what happened. The toddler sensed this, and totally leaned her weight into the middle-aged woman, moving her small arms around the best she could.

"Washu," the little girl mumbled into the abbey owner's chest, receiving a curious glance from the old man on the other side of the room. "Where do you see one?" asked the abbey owner, thinking she was referring to an eagle feather. "Washu," the girl repeated dolefully, burying her head into the woman's chest. "What do you mean?" Ellen tried again, stroking the red hair that jutted in awkward directions, the tips barely brushing her chin. The toddler didn't answer, just a muffled, _'Washu'_ was said once more. Matron didn't lose her patience, she rarely did, and continued to try and get meaning out of what she was saying, all answered by the word, 'Washu.' "It's her name," said the Grandfather after a while of continued questioning from the woman, "She's saying her name is Washu."

"Oh," Ellen said, making it sound polite, but inside she felt incredibly stupid for not figuring out sooner. Turning her attention back to the girl, she smiled and stroked her red hair once more, "Is that it? Your name is Washu?" the toddler tensed for a second, stiff in the woman's arms, yet relaxed as fast as she tensed it was hard for Ellen to tell if she had tensed at all. Plucking her arms away from her waist politely, Matron lifted the small girl up and looked again into her eyes. Still so lost, and yet so full of life, it was scary to think about to the middle-aged woman. The child didn't fight it when she unbuckled her arms from around Ellen's waist, just stared at her with a flat face, not motioning that she was answering the question she'd been given. Taking this into consideration, Matron smiled at the small one kindly and said calmly, "Even if that is not your name, Washu Hakubi, yes, that will be your name. My Little Washu," of course the abbey owner used the word 'little' at the beginning of every kid's name up until they get tired of it, which was around twelve. She always put a possessive word before it to make it sound motherly; the woman didn't want any of the children she'd taken in to feel that they were being put out by other children. Everyone in the orphanage respected the children that were tossed in by their mothers who didn't want their child/ren, handicaps, and some of the people who were mentally ill. If they had bad opinions, they kept them to themselves or else they wanted a serious punishment.

Most of the people there were being cured, the humans on Kanemitsu were fairly advanced in the healing department, but the people themselves didn't use oils or gas too often, stating stubbornly that it kills the home the gods gave them. The girl in her arms seemed comforted in Matron's kind voice, and made a failed attempt to smile back. Ellen chuckled at the attempt, and smiled wider when Washu kept trying and trying until finally her small face muscles refused to respond at all. The Grandfather still kept his distance, but noted the scene coming and going with a calm interest, smiling himself when Ellen managed to get a small unconscious laugh from the girl, who seemed slightly surprised at having done so in the first place. Matron set the girl down after getting her to laugh quietly, sitting down on the oak stump nearby. A yelp ensued when Washu collapsed onto her behind, small tears forming at the corners of her eyes at the new sensation of pain. Seeing the girl wince obvious pain to the shock of landing on her tailbone, Ellen sought to right her wrong, lifting the girl into her arms and walking around, making sure the old man was still far enough away to keep the girl unafraid of the world around her. The girl kept her face buried in Matron's shoulder, tightening her grip around one of the woman's arm when they crept a little closer to the elder man. Noticing the sudden change in grip, Ellen looked up from Washu and saw that they were five feet from the Grandfather, who had, conveniently, fallen asleep.

Hefting up the girl in her arms, Ellen took this chance to walk out of the room without being impolite in doing so, and brushed away the strands of hay that served as a doorway after she opened the door, gave a slight bow of thanks to a tree nearby serving as a home to a young man up in it's branches. Walking out of the healing house, the soft dirt tickling her feet as she walked. The villagers were all asleep by now; it was late into the night, or should-be morning. The only person up and stirring at night was the Watcher and the top of an Eagle Tower. It wasn't used as a spotter for an army coming; their village was too small to be of any use, but for spotting people that might be in need of help. Making her way past the houses quietly, a dull pain erupted into her left leg. Gritting her teeth against the pain, trying extremely hard not to awaken the now-asleep toddler in her arms, Matron leaned onto anything close for a few moments to recuperate, and then started again until the pain came back.

It wasn't always like that, as a young woman she could run ten laps around a course without the need of water. One day, when she and a couple villagers were walking into the woods to find the boy who had sat with Washu for three hours the day prior to this one. It was about four years back, so she still needed the time to get used to the dull pain and finally ignore it. The animal that was attacking bit a chunk off her leg, and she was out of it for months because of the blood loss. She faintly remembered the attack, and the boy didn't remember it at all, but now had a phobia of cats, since the animal the scratched his face was a panther. He also felt small paroxysms of pain whenever he felt extremely scared or hurt. Her leg had been healed; their technology helped and restored the chunk that was lost, fully recovered. No one would say aloud that the pain she felt was in her head, and she knew it to be true, but rather than try to push the imagining out, she concentrated more than ever on the children, whom were all extremely sad to find out they could never go on walks with her again, or at least until she overcame the thought.

See the orphanage in sight; Ellen quickened her pace, finally pushing aside the pain for getting the child in her arms to bed. The building itself was simple, consisting of brick and vines just like the Healing House. As she entered, she carefully closed the door behind her as to not wake a sleeping soul up. Always being a one for darkness, and the memorization of the building in her brain, she walked in the hallways and checked in every door she passed to make sure everyone was asleep. Satisfied that no one was found awake, Matron made her way to her room, which was just like everyone else's minus the face that the grass refused to grow in her room, so she had to put carpet grass for a lame excuse, but it worked nicely, all she had to do was water it and soon it was part of the dirt. Coming to her bad, which was the same as the Grandfathers, she set Washu near the wall and layed down herself, making sure she wouldn't roll over and squash the poor girl sometime during the night, Ellen fell asleep herself.

*** 

Washu shot up in her spot when one ray of sunlight smacked her face unmercifully. Lifting her small arms and trying her best to cover her green eyes, the toddler started to get slightly scared because she didn't know where she was. The girl trembled. This was not the room she had awoken in; it was different, in little ways. One was that she could tell by instinct that the grass on the floor wasn't real grass, although she didn't have a clue as to how she knew. Two was that there was a solid roof above them, not just thick vines growing over. Rubbing up and down her arms, she wasn't paying attention to anything except for the fact that she didn't know where she was. A woman was sleeping next to her, and the girl quickly recognized her to be the woman that held her kindly yesterday. The woman looked old; then again, everyone older than the child looked old to her at the second, with dark brown hair with carefully hidden grew strands here and there. Scooting over a bit, so she was right against the woman, the toddler removed her hands from her arms and lifted the right one to touch the woman's face. It was a gentle touch; light enough to feel as if she had accidentally touched her aged face. She felt it, tried to get to know her better, and then stopped and pulled her little hand away when she thought she heard a creak in the wall. Trembling again, Washu tried to get closer to the woman.

_'Where am I?'_ a voice suddenly asked in her brain. Becoming confused at another voice asking things without her willing it too, but not afraid of the voice, for to the little girl it sounded too familiar to be scared of.

_'You are here,'_ came the answer, though the voice seemed more adult, but it too, seemed familiar.

_'Where's here? I don't understand…'_ said the childlike voice, seeming to whimper pitifully.

_'Here is here, it does not matter where here is. If you know that you are where, you are here,'_ stated the adult voice brusquely, Washu almost thought the voice was deliberately trying to confuse her.

_'But where…is here?'_ the voice asked again, trying hard to sound unafraid.

_'Here,'_ said the other, and then disappeared.

Washu quivered again in her seat, lifting the blanket and trying to put it around her, but failed and it slid back down to the wooden mattress. "Here, I'll help," said a voice, startling the toddler and making her fall backward into some arms. "…Sorry," apologized the voice, helping the small girl up and pulling the blanket so it stayed on her. The girl cowered up against the wall, trying to see whom the voice belonged to. Spotting the unfamiliar person at last, the toddler studied the boy. His hair was a silver color, streaks of dark-gray at the tips of every strand. His eyes were an icy blue, which seemed to fit well with his hair, specs of amber here and there in his eyes. Three gashes were on his face, now scars, there was no denture in his skin, just a different texture; it was slightly whiter than the skin around it. Washu eyed him with a mild fear and intense curiosity. He looked no older than eight. "M-my name's Ged. I don't know if you remember, but I sat with you two days ago, and I heard you and Mom walking into the room, so I-uh, well I couldn't get to sleep, and I waited until you were awake. Well, it was nice meeting you girl, even if you don't know what I'm saying, I just want you to know that I'll be your friend if you want…it's kind of lonely around here, even with everybody. A lot of them hate me because I'm the reason Mom can't walk so much anymore…but, like I said, if you don't know what I'm saying, well, when you get older, I'm just saying I'll be there and be your friend and help you with things."

They boy turned around and was about to leave when Washu spoke a word, "…Wait," she said. The word was strange on her lips, she didn't know why she said it at all; she didn't even know what it meant! The boy froze at her voice, and faced her once more, his blue eyes so clear she could see herself in them, though she didn't know that. Ellen continued to sleep soundly, not shifting in the slightest. "So you can speak," he stated happily, but the girl didn't understand his words, but somehow knew that he was a kindred spirit. He continued to talk on and on, only pausing to wet his tongue, and then start again. The girl listened, but didn't know what he was saying, but somehow her brain was starting to kick in, and she was catching a few words and putting meaning to them. "What's your name, girl?" he asked at last, after five minutes of non-stop talking.

"Washu," she said automatically, not knowing why.

"Where?" Ged asked naively, looking around to spot a feather.

Upon instinct, the toddler took the boy's hand and layed it on her heart. So sudden was the act that the boy was jerked from his search and nearly fell onto her. Squeezing the hand tightly enough to make him stay, she repeated, "Washu," and then let go.

The young boy was so befuddled that it took a few moments for the explanation to get into his small, but thick, head. Scratching the back of his head, Ged was at a loss for words, his vocabulary was at a very short minimum at his age.

"You, Ged?" Washu asked, staring intently at him, putting her hand on his heart before he could prevent it. The boy nodded weakly, trying to think of a way to get away from the girl's keen gaze without being impolite. A few seconds later, he gave up and put his hands on top of hers, replying her question, "Yes, I'm Ged. You are Washu, right?"

"Washu!" the girl shouted eagerly, smiling at last without failure, "I, Washu! Washu Hahkoobee," the mispronunciation caught a laugh from the boy, making the girl confused once more. Wiping a tear from his eye, Ged corrected her, "No, you are, Washu Hakubi. Try again,"

"Huhkoohbe?" Washu asked, putting the tip of her index finger into her mouth, sucking.

"Hakubi, but you've got it right, pretty much," Ged answered, smiling wider.

The girl put on the best-bemused face she could congregate, with big puppy dog eyes in it unconsciously. The boy shrugged at the act, too young himself to be affected. "You and I, we could be good friends if you could learn how to talk better," he ended the sentence with a faraway sigh, staring into space. "…Talk?" Washu solicited, she herself not having full knowledge of how she could use her tongue on her own in the first place. "Uh-huh, the only person I can really talk to is myself and Mom, everyone else doesn't want anything to do with me." Now it was the boy's turn to be baffled. His eyes snapping into reality, he suddenly jumped when Washu encircled her small arms around him. "W-What are you doing?" he asked, though not moving to remove her. "Hug, Ged…I, talk…" she stuttered, trying her best to make him understand with her broken language. The toddler's red hair brushed Ged's right cheek as she put her head on his shoulder and squeezed tighter. "I, talk, best…I can. Make…Ged, happy?" the boy didn't do anything.

"Yes, Washu…that would make me happy. My first friend…wow,"

They spent the next half hour trying to communicate.

*** 

"What the bloody hell does that Ged think he's doin'?" shouted a thirteen year old girl, spying on the boy from the doorway. "He disgusts moi," whispered another female, one year older than the younger girl next to her. "I wasn't talking about, 'moi,' I was talking that Ged boy, sneaking into Mother's room like that." The French accented girl scowled, and snorted, "Well, I wazn't talking about ze Ged boy. _I_ waz talking about moi!" The English accented girl snorted also, "Just shu'up, I'm trying to listen to what that Ged has to say," turning her head away; her brown hair smacked the French girl's face in the process.

"What'z zis? Non apologiez for smacking moi?" the elder girl slightly shouted, hitting the younger arm in return. The thirteen year old turned abruptly to her, "What the hell was that for?" she asked harshly, glaring at the older with dark brown eyes. "I sed you should apologize for smacking moi!" the black haired young woman retorted. "That's it! Put up yer dukes, because I'm gonna kick your arse!"

"Ooh, moi is so scared. God help me!" she stated playfully, dodging a jab by the girl, "Iz zat ze best you can do? I am not so weak as to be caught by a midget, non?"

"I've had it up ta here with you! Why didn't you just shu'up like I asked?" her brown hair swinging in motion, she swiped her right hand once again.

"Taisez-vous! You shut-up!" the other snapped madly, shoving Kila. The English accented girl was angry now, and pushed the older girl into a nearby wall and started shouting in a hushed voice, holding the other girl firmly with her strong grip. It was a good thing no one in the village was up five in the morning, or the two would've been severely punished for fighting one another, not that it was unfamiliar with the two fighting. "This is ridiculous! I say zat ze proper thing to do iz to walk away from each ozer, before we get punished, non? Au revoir!" Seli wrenched her arms from Kila and stomped off before the younger girl could react. "Stupid fool…" muttered the girl, and turned back to watching Ged and the new girl.

*** 

"Can you walk?" the boy asked, helping the toddler out of bed and onto the grassy floor. Washu landed with a thunk on the soft ground, the blow to her behind wasn't painful, it was the sudden movement that scared her, and almost brought the young girl to tears; almost. "Well I guess that answers that question…" he garbled, holding out his hand to help her up again. The small girl took it after a small reluctance, her legs wobbled beneath her, but Ged kept her up fairly well. "Walk…?" Washu asked questioningly, stumbling into his arms once more.  "Yes, walking. Sit down and I'll show you," not waiting for her to answer, the young boy set her down gently and walked away so she could see his movements. "Like this," he demonstrated, slowly putting one foot in front of the first, eventually making his way to the other side of the room. Washu watched, trying hard not to blink for fear of missing something. Ged kept his eyes focused on the girl, making sure that she was paying attention to what he was doing before walking across the room again. "You'll do fine. Try it," he suggested, stepping over to her and helping her up. "First, try to keep you balance,"

Washu wobbled unsteadily as he let go of her waist. "That's right, just work on standing still," he watched in slight admiration as she stood perfectly still for three seconds and then caught her before she landed hard onto him. "We can work on that. Hey! Maybe Mom will help!"

"Help with what?" asked a sleepy voice, startling the young boy. He darted his head around to see a half awake Ellen, whom was rolling out of bed and walking towards him. Caught by surprise, the young boy could only stutter helplessly, trying to look for an escape route that he didn't necessarily need. "Walk," the little girl suddenly said, finally regaining her balance on her feet. Washu's abrupt entrance sobered the elder lady almost instantly, her blue eyes staring in a surprised notion at the toddler. "Walk!" the girl repeated, sterner this time and taking a small step towards the stuttering boy and Ellen. Matron's eyes narrowed in curiosity, watching Washu take one small step at a time until she was standing right next to Ged, whom had paled in fear of getting in trouble. Her gaze turning to the boy, the abbey owner stepped closer to him, in which his skin turned even whiter. "Did you sneak into here?" she asked after a long, tense filled silence. "Y-yes…sorry, Mother, I saw the girl…and well, she woke up and was cold so I decided to help…" Ged returned; making sure his pale blue stared straight into Ellen's, it wasn't polite to stare at ones shoes while talking. "Well at least you have some manners, young man," Matron said, smiling to him and patting his light gray hair. Ged's skin color returned to normal, his cheery voice filled the room once more, "Thank you, mom! I-I mean…Wha-what are we talking about?"

Ellen's laughter pierced through his ears as he blushed vehemently, stubbing his toe onto the soft blades of grass in embarrassment, and her eyes shifted to Washu, who had a goofy smile on, though her eyes told perfectly well that she didn't have a clue to what was going on. "Well, Little Washu, it seems you can talk… You can talk…right?" Matron added, seeing the toddler's perplexed face answer her question. "Yes, I…talk…" a long silence followed, and then Washu put more into her sentence, "…Mom…"

The elder woman hugged the two children; squeezing them so tight they thought they couldn't breathe. Washu wrapped her arms around the woman out of sheer instinct, while Ged tried his hardest to keep up to the subject, in which he had gotten lost. 

Washu never forgot how joyous Matron looked to be called Mom.

*** 

"Washu!" Ellen shouted outside the abbey, calling in the direction of the moor. "What, Ma?" the girl, now five, hollered back, coming out of the windmill with dust covering her simple tunic and trousers. "It's time for dinner Little Washu," Matron said, waving her hand to motion the girl to come back. "Ooookay! Gotcha! Be right there!" the young girl cried, and ran to the nearby well to dust her clothes off and wash her hands. 

Washu had gotten along well with the other children in the last two years, though some of the older ones still shunted her for hanging out with Ged, whom was now ten. She'd kept her hair from growing; it being long enough already, and usually used her ability to Meta morph to make it short enough to fit in a hat. On special occasions she either wore it up or let it drape down to however long it was. She was incredibly smart for her age, her intellect of that of a twelve year old; even though she still enjoyed pretending she acted like a five year old. The girl had kept her intelligence well hidden from others, sometimes acting like a klutz to cover for her well being. Swiftly dipping her hands in and out of the freezing water, and rubbing them together. She raced back to the abbey, ignoring disturbing glances from teenagers she passed. Stopping at the door, the little girl made sure she'd dusted her clothes off until they looked proper enough to eat at a table, she opened the oak door and stepped inside. The Grandfather standing right next to the door startled her out of her mind, making the little one trip over her own feet and land with a thunk on the ground, receiving some muffled laughter from nearby children. "Are you alright?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice, leaning onto his cane and staring down mildly at her as she made an effort to stand up. _'Just peachy, Grandfather,'_ she thought to herself, then answered in her high-pitched voice that embarrassed her beyond belief, "Yeah, I'm fine,"

"Respect your elders, Washu. That mind of yours is going to be easily broken into if you say things that freely," he said, and walked in the direction of the dining room. A few of the children nearby knew what the old man was scolding her on, and started laughing quietly at her open thought. Washu fumed, he'd read her mind again! Stomping off down the corridor, she made sure not make her accuracy in steps too obvious, making things come out of shelves and in front of her feet so she could have an excuse to stumble. The only ones who had the knowledge that she was intentionally doing this, were the Grandfather, Ellen, and Ged, whom had all helped in teaching her how to speak fluently, without having to pause every few words to get the right one out. She didn't use her supernatural powers to scare people; in fact, she only used telekinesis to move objects in front of her feet. When she came of age, which was around ten, she'd give up her clumsiness and start acting normal. Entering the dining room, which was about the size of two small houses, with tables lined up in six rows that stretched from one end of the room to the other. Children of all ages sat on the benches lined up next to the tables, some were chatting fiercely about their day, and others were sitting silently while twiddling their thumbs.

The small girl, whom was still small for her age, made her way over to the "dork" table, and sat next to Ged as accustomed. That table was usually standoffish for the people shunted, and those who were handicapped that sometimes ended up making a mess of their food (liable that it end up on the next persons lap). It was the least crowded table; only three to five kids sat their each day.  The abbey owner sat with them sometimes, not choosing to sit next to anyone for the reason that others get extremely jealous at the sight. Ged was still mentally younger than his physical years, but with the help of Washu being his first friend, he was easily starting to overcome that stage, and act his full ten years. "Hi, Ged," Washu said in her usual cheery voice, though still upset at the fact it sounded to nasal to her liking. Seeming to notice the girl for the first time, he jumped and made a forced smile, "Oh, all right, I guess…"

"C'mon! That snail you caught was really cool! Too bad you had to let it go, huh?" she asked, staring at him with her bright green eyes. "Well, no, actually. If we can have our freedom, then even snails should be allowed to roam around, right?" he asked, returning her stare. She thought hard for a moment, then gave him a stern nod, "Yeah, you're right. Animals should have their freedom, no matter how barbarian they are. Well anyway, we had fun down at the moor until you were called to do chores…wish I could help, it's boring without you to play!"

"What about Mom?" Ged questioned, eyeing the salad being put down nearby with hunger. "She was too busy with the other kids, I can't have all the time with her, even if that time is little…" she trailed off, staring down at her wooden plate with a tiny leave carved onto it on the bottom. "I can understand," Ged began, folding his arms and staring at his cup, "The only times I can really get just a little time with her is if I make it into her room at the crack of dawn, and then have to make up a good excuse for barging in. She knows I'm lying, however, but she's good with kids, she knows that I only want just fifteen minutes to talk to her. Like that time I snuck into her room and had the "real" excuse, because you were cold, remember?"

"Uh-huh, but oh well. She's got lots of children to attend to, can't pick favorites, right?" Washu stated, picking up a butter knife and toying with it.

"Whut do we have here…" came a new voice, barging into their conversation.

"What do you want Seli?" Ged asked, his tone becoming higher pitched. He, too, hid his intelligence, though not as much as Washu. "Oh, just wanting to see the infamous "Little Washyu"" the French accented girl snorted, glaring holes through the back of the little girl's back, "Since she iz suck a klutz anyway,"

Washu flinched, but used her childlike voice to her advantage. If you sound smart when you are young, the more startled they become, the little girl liked to say. "Listen, Kila and Seli, if you want to be considered a dork, go ahead and sit down, there's always plenty of space," she started, motioning towards the empty spots, "but if don't want to be considered one, then I'm asking you, politely, to please leave,"

An unsteady silence followed, and then the two girls made their trademark snort and walked away. Ged waited until they were out of earshot to talk in his original voice, "Good diss, Washu!" the girl shrugged, a wry smile sneaking onto her proud face, clutching the butter knife and pretending she was the leader of the universe for a few moments. "Ahem! May I have all of your attention, please!" an old crackly voice boomed over the room, silencing everybody who recognized the person owning the sentence, and the small ones who didn't had their mouths gently covered by the maids to silence them. Achieving the quiet he wanted, and all of the attention of the people, the Grandfather continued, "Before we eat, let us say the Grace," he stated.

Washu sighed, no important messages today, but didn't complain and clasped her hands together and thought of a simple prayer to say. When she was done, she calmly waited for Ged to finish, and the rest of the table, before she reached for the first thing in front of her. "Yay! They've got noodles today, yum…" she said cheerfully, making it sound childish due to the nearby maids. The boy noticed the steaming noodles and starting filling up his bowl too, as did three other children and one adult. Washu made sure she looked polite enough (hiding her other hand as she snatched some shrimp from another bowl by moving other food trays to block her hand. The people of Kanemitsu did not hunt for meat from deer and such, just from the animals they think are too stupid to honor life, marine life is mainly the only meat they have. Still, they give thanks to the animal before slaughtering it. Washu dunked a large sip of milk and started to eat her Alfredo like noodles. A faint white mustache appeared just above her upper lip as she drank another gulp of fluid. "Washu, slow down, you're going to choke," Ged whispered into her ear, grabbing her arm to make her stop for a second.

"…Sorry," she coughed, taking a napkin and wiping away the junk on her face. "Don't be, I sometimes forget you're only five. Plus it's a mistake one could make here and now, especially with such good food!" he complimented as a cook strode by, receiving a grateful glance. "Forget, huh? How can you forget? I'm a midget!" she shouted in a hushed voice, shoving the part of shrimp you're supposed to eat and dropping the other piece onto her plate. "How can I forget? You're smart, that's why, smarter than me in some ways. Plus I don't care about how short you are, it's just a size, Washu," he said calmly, patting her on the back before beginning in cutting up his crab. He paused for a moment, looking at Washu for a second and back to the crab. Satisfied with something he seemed to have solved, the boy started cutting the small crab. "You know, Washu. Did you know that your hair looks like a crab?" he asked, and then put a good portion of the crab's leg into his mouth. Washu looked puzzled, "Hm? Well…I guess…I've never really seen a crab up close before," the girl smiled, eating some noodles and slowly draining some more milk. Shrugging, Ged continued to eat his crab, and then went for the salad, which he had eyed earlier, only to sadly note that all of it had been eaten, "Aw, man!" he cried, slouching in his seat.

*** 

The little girl was bored, she had done all her days chores in but an hour, helped Ged with his, read a book, and even dug a three feet deep hole for no good reason. She was sitting at the stump of a tree, some butterflies flapping their wings in a steady beat that made a faint hum. By the way, it was really hot out. Wiping the sweat that threatened to drip down her face, she made a melodramatic sigh and folded her small arms behind her head, staring at the clouds. Washu was nearly five and a half, and her size had not increased in even the slightest. Her nasal voice was starting to get on her nerves so she didn't talk as much as she used to, so happened that there was no more need to act like a klutz anymore, just because she refused to talk as often.  Humming a quiet tune to her ears, which she had no idea where she had learned it from, she watched in a childlike gaze as a yellow butterfly landed on the tip of her nose. Still humming the tune, the insect crawled up and down her nose, tickling her. Forcing down her laughter, the small one continued to have a growing curiosity to match her age at the bug. Grinning, though still humming, she lifted her hand and patted the insect's head very softly. Washu pouted when it buzzed angrily at her and flew away almost immediately. Sighing, she started staring at the moor and tried to lose herself in her thoughts, humming the song once more.

Being only five, she had a lot on her mind, even though one idea may come and go so fast you can't keep up until you grasp the next idea, and yet even that disappears so fast she needed to keep grasping hold of the next one before it even began. Only to lose it into the large void of ideas she had stored up in her brain. Spotting a firefly come and go quickly, it held her interest and she decided to get up and try to go after it. She had nothing better to do, anyways. Running as fast as she could in the direction the bug went, she only paused to make sure she wasn't seen by passing adults, and then ran once more. What she didn't notice was the moor, her point that she couldn't go any further, had passed her more than ten minutes ago. "Where are you, Buggy?" she called to the air, straining her eyes in search of the firefly. In truth, she hadn't seen it since she had spotted it, but she was only five years old, and still very much a child and did not notice this. Washu kept calling and calling for the small insect, all receiving singing of birds and the rustling of trees. All around her, trees and vegetation, making the route she took look like all the rest of the twists and turns. Cupping her hands around her mouth so she could shout better, the small girl once again called for the thing that caught her attention. The canopy of the forest blocked the sun, and the little girl was soon getting frightened of the dark shadows the tall trees were casting.

"Where am I?" she asked at last, the interest in the bug finally floating free and the new thought of where she was interrupted. She scratched her head, trying hard to keep a cool over the situation. "I've never been here before…maybe it's Miss Ji's garden gone mad," she garbled, smiling as the comforting thought of the servant's garden came in. "I must say, these trees look an awful lot like those beech trees past the moor, they even smell like them!"

Shivering, the little girl curled up at a nearby stump and started to hum a tune unconsciously. Somehow, someway, the song lifted all of her thoughts and troubles off her shoulders and let her float in a white void of nothingness, nothing but a song echoing in the light. She closed her eyes and continued to hum, swaying in beat to the music…

_"Idiot…"_ muttered a voice, the owner seeming to glare viciously at the girl.

_"What?"_ the smaller asked, putting her hands on her hips and glowered back at the adult voice.

_"Oh, never mind. Just go fling yourself across the universe for all I care,"_ the other said viciously, snarling.

_"I-I can find my way back!"_ the child cried in disagreement, the voice quivering.

_"Is that right? Oh…there goes a flying pig, and the sun has a face!"_ the adult retorted cynically, laughing.

_"Don't laugh! Don't laugh!"_ the little one hollered in a pain filled tone, crumpling to the floor, crying…

All through the argument, a soft and quiet song echoed in the silence.

Washu shot up, shaking so badly with the rain spattering her body, the humming suddenly stopping. Thunder rung in the distance, some flashes of lightening lit her surroundings. At night it was a horror that forest, and the small girl back up as far as she could in the tree before curling up in a ball and hoping it would end soon.

*** 

"Where is she?" Ged shouted at Kali, shoving her into a wall and glaring daggers into the young woman. "I don't know, Ged! I haven't seen her for two months. Why would I know, she's a dork!" her brown hair, now speckled with mud, and rain drenching it, her dark brown eyes stared back at him. She was amazed at the show of strength he possessed, able to keep a fifteen-year-old girl pinned to the wall and a seventeen-year-old woman unconscious. "Are you sincere in your answers?"

"Duh! Since when did you start using big words, doofus?" she hollered at him, struggling to get out of his grip. "Since forever! I'm not as dumb as you might think, Kali. Neither is Washu, so just shut-up and listen to what I have to say, or else you're going to end up like Seli over there!" he was referring to the hurt woman, now unaware to anything because of her state, laying sprawl eagled on the ground, her head having been hit by the wooden wall. "If she has brain damage…I swear you're going to pay! I swear it!" Kali cursed, glaring at him as he tightened his hold on the scruff of her neck. "Hmph," Ged said in defiance, "I don't care what you do to me. All I care about is finding Washu!"

"Oh I see…interested in younger girls are we?" Kali teased, giving him a snooty look. He flinched, "No, she's my friend, you idiot! My first and only friend! She's the only one I can talk to!" Ged shouted, let go of her and ran away. Rubbing her sore neck, Kali crawled over to Seli and stared in the direction the boy had ran, a thoughtful face coming into her features. "What does that boy want anyway…?" she asked more to herself than the air, then continued, "Maybe we shouldn't have let that artificial firefly loose near the moor…it was just a practical joke, anyway," shrugging in a mindless gesture, the young woman returned to tending to her French accented friend.

*** 

Ged ran as fast as he could into the abbey, ignoring the protest for him to stop running and take off his moccasins, he darted straight for Ellen's room, where he knew she would be asleep. Slamming into the room, the ten-year-old almost doubled over when he thought he saw something in the corner of the room. "Washu…?" he asked, inching towards it slowly. The small figure was unmistakably Washu's, yet her body seemed to be translucent, for he could spot a flower coming through her bottom. "Washu?" he asked again, seeing her fidget when he called her name. It was now absolutely her, but he could see through her! "Washu!" he cried, kneeling down and trying to set his hand on her back. Only thing was, unfortunately, his hand passed straight through her and nearly made him stumble into the thing. The figure now had Washu's fearful face up out of the ball she was in and staring around her in alert.

A humming started to play. 

Ged looked around himself also, trying to find the source of the music. The song was a depressing one; it lowered his spirits and nearly made him want to cry. Images of bloodbath wars came into his mind; scaring him and making him fall onto his butt. Then some pictures of angels he'd seen on the nearby church walls sprung forth. The pattern continued, and his mind ended up naming it as Chaos. All it was, was simple, intricate, chaos. Ged spotted Washu, whom now had her eyes closed and was swaying in beat to the humming. It hit him. She was the one humming! How she looked serene to the tune was beyond him, the song made his heart latch onto despair. It made him confused, and for a moment he felt like nothing mattered either good or evil, he just felt, was. The feeling was gone before he could place it, so he returned his attention to the transparent child curled up in the corner. Her green eyes were blank, and they reflected on how he just felt.

"Washu…where are you?" he asked in despair, trying to touch the ephemeral person but ended up going through it once again, "Washu," he sniffed, "Where…?"

The song started over, loudly this time.

*** 

Washu was scared. She could hear and see a translucent Ged trying to touch her, and yet he couldn't. His transparent hand had gone through her arm and left a warm tingling sensation. Her song she was humming seemed to disturb him, seeing that his eyes had gone to sorrow in but a few moments. Her curious eyes noted that he was saddened that he could not touch her. _"Washu…where are you?"_ he asked sullenly, a black shadowy figure appearing behind him. "Ged, look out!" she shrieked, trying to reach him, to push him out of the way, but only succeeded in going through him and landing hard on her chest, knocking the breath out of her. Still she struggled to point out the figure appearing behind her friend. "Ged…look…out…" she muttered, and shut her eyes when the black shadowy thing swung something at the boy's neck.

Nothing happened…

_"Washu!"_ his voice pierced through the humming, trying to reach the fallen girl. The boy won in smashing his nose against the wall, but not in getting to the aired girl._ "Please hold on, Washu! Please…"_ he whispered pathetically and turned around to run.

"Come back!" Washu cried, trying to reach out to him, "Come back, Ged! Stay! I'm so scared…help me Ged. Help me, Ged!" her cries were in vain as the transparent figure disappeared into the trees. "No!" she hollered, pounding her fists on the muddy ground and swallowing her tears, "No! No! No!"

*** 

Ellen was jerked from her slumber by a rough shaking that nearly broke her neck, "What?" she shouted, glaring at Ged. "It's Washu…. Mom, please! She's missing!" he cried in disdain, near tears. "What?" she snapped, still angry at the fact she'd been woken up at this ungodly hour. "She's missing, mom! Washu's missing!" he yelled, collapsing onto the floor and gesturing to the translucent figure of Washu in the corner of the room. "Oh my…" Ellen whispered, flinging off her blankets and stepping towards the figure, "Where is she?"

"I don't know!" Ged cried, "All I know is that she's lost, and afraid, I can't touch her!"

The figure shaped as Washu was staring at them both fearfully now, her eyes seeming to shout, no, to beg to be saved. Matron knelt down by the transparent Washu and asked her where she was, fear etching into her voice.

_"Some forest…"_ came the misty answer, the little girl not bothering to look at them anymore, her right hand clutching at the mud.

Nodding, Matron turned to Ged, "You stay here and make sure she's all right, and I'll-" she paused when the humming suddenly started again. Her eyes flashed blankly for a moment before returning to focus. Looking around her in search for the source as the young boy had done. Noticing Washu tapping her fingertips on the ground in beat to the music, Ellen suddenly paled, "Washu, stop humming that tune!" she hollered, and started off out into the storm, Ged trying his best to get her to stop humming that tune. Either ignoring or not hearing, Washu continued to hum that Chaos filled song; the boy's heart sank as deep as the deepest ocean. The tune was heartwarming in one half, the other so sad he couldn't think straight. An evil, good song that wrenched his heart from his chest and tore it to pieces. When he saw her again he was going to make sure to ask where and why she hums that song.

Sitting on the grass by her, he put his hand in her barely visible one, almost pulling away when it left a chilly feeling running up his arm, but stopped when a warm tingly sensation replaced it. The girl seemed to be all right as well, though the humming still continued, happier this time, however.

The thunder that cracked nearly startled them both to peeing their pants. Ged stumbled forward into the transparent being, sending horrendous chills and then a large warming through his body. Blushing like a maniac, the boy shoved himself off and was met by a saddened gaze. Turning redder by the minute, he reluctantly asked what was wrong, though knowing perfectly well what she wanted. _"I'm cold…"_ she put simply, sitting up and crawling to him, the transparent figure stopping just by him, though close enough to gather the warmth it caused when they touched. Flushing, Ged put his hands on top of hers, which were on the ground, causing warm feeling to flare in their body.

Warming to the inside, not the outside layers of them.

Washu was taking good care not to lean too far to one side, if she did, the warmth would stop in one part of the body and overflow in another. Ged himself took care also, but didn't have to concentrate as much, him having a bigger body than hers.

Sighing inwardly, the humming she was doing had a more joyous notes coming in, Ged waited patiently for Matron to find the girl.

*** 

The little girl would not stop humming, no matter how disturbed the boy looked when she did. The joyous, depressing song gave her comfort in some way she couldn't say. So if it brought comfort to her in this frightening place, she was going to hum it. In a sense she loved it, the joy it brought to her was overwhelming. She ignored the depressing part; it saddened her like no tomorrow there ever was. It still rained hard enough to keep her shivering, that was the reason she crawled up to Ged for warmth, even if it only warmed her insides. Snuggling to herself and trying hard to make it look like she was curling up in Ged's lap, closing her eyes and continuing to hum, she barely noticed strong arms wrap themselves around her, falling asleep too quickly.

*** 

"A failed attempt at Doppelganger," a young man wearing a fancy suit stated bluntly, running a hand through his coarse brown hair as the old woman and the young boy finished telling their tale. To him he honestly thought all of this was bullshit, no human could do the Doppelganger ability. Only the creature called mass, which had been found on the planets of the outskirts of the Jurain territory, was rumored to have this amazing power. Yet it was all still in fact a rumor started by an old coot in a bar, spreading the ridiculous tale around like wildfire. The scientist struggled to keep his irritation hidden as they babbled on and on about it. "I saw her! A transparent figure that was the shape of her was sitting right there!" the boy shouted, noting the man's annoyance. "I believe you," he lied, slipping a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopping his forehead. Sighing, the old woman known as Matron tried to keep her patience with the scientist who seemed to have absolutely no manners. "May I see the other young man you brought with you?" she hissed through her teeth, pangs of venom slipping out.

The man noticed and shot her a glare that could kill (that is of course…if looks could kill) and his right eyebrow twitched angrily. These damn Kanemitsins needed to learn how to build some damn air conditioning, it was hot as hell in there, though the residents never seemed to notice. The scientist, grateful to have the perfect excuse to leave this god forbidden planet, simply nodded and did a slight bow. He did have a reputation to keep, you know. "Very well, if that is what you wish, madam, I shall escort the other here. Please excuse me," he said brusquely, walking stiffly away, garbling about how the other man he brought was more primitive than a worm. "Hmph," Ellen huffed, glaring at the scientist, "Ged my boy, those are the people you want to stay away from. All they care about is doing the crappiest job ever, getting their money, and getting out of there," she said, putting her aged hands on her hips and smiling to the ten year old albino.  Ged laughed a little and nodded, sitting down on a wooden chair and fingering with the carved leaf near his captain's quarters. 

A teenager, no older than eighteen entered the humid room, looking slightly winded. His dark blond hair glistened with soot, and he wore a loose blue cloak with a gray sweatshirt underneath, not the typical clothing to wear in this weather. He wore these thick clothes because the "captain," the one who had just stomped out of the room, liked to keep the ship freezing cold. He could swear that his spit would freeze before it hit the sink when he brushed his teeth. Scratching the back of his head, trying his best to brush all of the dirt off of his body, the younger scientist walked forward, careful to not touch anything. "Sit," Ellen said, pointing to a spare wooden chair. The teen flushed and walked over to drag the chair over, nearly tripping on his untied shoes. "My, my, my…they don't treat you well, do they, young man?" Matron said, noting the poor state that shoes were in. "N-Nonsense…T-They treat me p-p-perfectly fine…thank you for your concern," the scientist stuttered, struggling to walk better, but this task proved futile, as his clothing were five sizes too big. "Your welcome, but I know when I hear a pack of lies," Matron stated, slitting her eyes in attempt to read him like a book. The teen blushed and nearly tripped again, but was caught by a little girl who had just walked into the room. "T-Thank you, miss…" he stuttered once more, maintaining the will to not meet the abbey owner's eye. "No problem, mister," the girl said, now revealed to be Washu. "Mister? I think not," he said firmly, dusting off his clothes in a failed attempt to look like the person in charge. Finally facing Ellen, he said his apologies about lying and took his offered seat in respect.

"Aha! You are Kanemitsin!" Matron suddenly shouted in delight, spotting a little design of a leaf on the dirty sleeve of his blue cloak. The man flustered, "W-Well, yes, ma'am…I am native to Kanemitsu, but not of this region…Northern Mikayu, I was raised by foster parents, but we are not here to discuss my heritage. Forgive me for my bluntness…that man you just saw wants me back and working on that broken engine in twenty minutes…"

"Oh? That twit is your captain?" Matron asked, half amused. "Please do not speak unkindly of our captain…yes, he is very harsh, especially to me…yet at least he lets me stay on the crew, after all of the mistakes and slip ups I've done," the scientist stated, slipping off his heavy cloak and his sweater, revealing a loose t-shirt with the science academy symbol of the Imperial Academy of Jurai. "Wow," Ged and Washu said in awe, their beady eyes staring at the shirt with utmost respect. "You go to the Imperial Science Academy of Jurai?" the younger boy asked eagerly, the five-year-old girl jumping up and down. "Wow! A real scientist in this room!" she stated giddily, starting to run around him and Matron in circles, "Yay!" Washu shouted, beginning to hop up and down again on the soft dirt. Ellen smiled at the girl and the boy, the teen holding back a laugh at the girl's awe of him. "Yes, I go to the Academy, but it's very hard to get in there. So why don't you both do me a favor and start to go study some ancient literature while I talk this problem out with your Matron, okay?"

Washu looked stumped, "Ancient Literature? Bleh! C'mon, Ged, they have to talk 'grown-up' stuff," she stated stubbornly, turning around and stomping off, disappointed that her good day had been ruined by a simple stupid sentence. The albino was confused for a second, but soon followed after his short friend.

"She's very smart for her age…" the scientist complimented, cupping his chin with her hand. "It's a tactic she can use to fool adults, very helpful when she wants to fork her way out of doing her share of dishes," Ellen answered, her hands coming together and setting themselves on her knees. Staring intently at her young guest, she waited patiently for him to ask her the question he was sent for. "Well then," he began, turning his attention to the middle-aged woman, "I assume you are going to explain to me why you think that little girl named Washu should be upgraded from Class E to Class C in supernatural powers, correct?" he asked, taking out a notebook to take things down every now and then. "Yes," Ellen agreed, and began what she knew.

"Gawd, this is so boring!" Kali shouted to the air, punching the wall for good measure. Her dark brown hair, now streaked with many blond strands due to all the outside work she and Seli had been doing lately, was matted to her head with sweat. Not being native to Kanemitsu, Kali was sweating her butt off and her French accented friend was sitting on a bench, picking at her nails. Noticing this, the younger girl glared in envy at her friend's ability to keep cool even in the most hellish weathers. "Is that all you can do right this second? Boredom reeks out of your skull, so just admit it!"

"Shut up," Seli stated angrily, looking at her best friend's baffled face at her attitude. "I am not in ze mood to talk… Zat Ged boy will sure take a beating if I ever see him," she garbled, returning her bored attention to her nails, which were perfectly fine except for the fact that she kept seeing imaginary crap on them. It was a result of being bored, though she would never admit it to her English accented friend, whom was constantly trying to get her to focus her attention on her by attempting to get a rise out of her. Sighing, Kali gave up and sat next to Seli, kicking the ground with her boot. "I guess I can't blame him…" she started, a smirk finding itself on her face, "Washu is pretty much his only friend, so I guess I would try to beat someone up if something ever happened to someone I'm close to…"

"What are you getting at? Are you saying you'd kick someone's derrière to the moon if something happened to me?" Seli hinted, glad to finally have her friend out of her 'I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass' mood, and gave her a respectful attention. "I never said that!" Kali shouted. "Oh, you said enough for me to get the point. Or am I not 'close' to you, non?" the French girl asked, smiling wryly because she knew she had her trapped in a corner where she couldn't back out of. "Hell no! I mean yes! What am I saying?" the younger girl asked herself, now confused in her words, making half sentences because she kept starting new ones. Seli grinned stupidly, and poked her friends rib cage, "I know itz not like zat! Zat's not what this is about!" 

"Hm?" Kali wondered, her thoughts becoming more in rhythm now, "Oh! Well, duh, of course I'd kick someone's ass if something happened to you. Real hard!"

Seli laughed, "You really need help, my friend,"

"Of course I do! This old noggin o' mine been needin' help for a really, really long time!" Kali insulted herself, standing proudly with a couple of the villagers laughing at the show they were making.

"Ah poop, there's nothing to do…" Washu complained, smacking her head against the wall of the moor in boredom. "Your not any help," Ged stated, in return getting a death glare that could send Tsunami running, "I-I mean…of whatever," he shrugged, women were really impossible (you better believe it!) The small girl sighed and kicked the windmill hard, stubbing her poor toe in the process. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Washu whined, hopping up and down on one foot, clutching her foot in pain. The boy laughed at her scene, also in return receiving a hard kick in his left shin. "You idiot, no one laughs at Washu the Great! 'Cause one day I'll be the number one scientific genius in the future and no one will laugh at me because I'll be so powerful! Muwahahahahahahaha!" Washu laughed evilly, making it look like some evil music was playing. "What about me?" Ged asked sheepishly, playing along with her act. "You'll be my best scientific side-kick in the whole universe and we'll make it impossible because we will be so powerful! Hahahahahahahaha!" she continued to laugh in a devilish way, sending shivers down his spine as the boy refused to let laughter come for the sake of his shins. Finally, after awhile of laughing from her small body (but with an enormous ego she seemed to create for herself) she choked on her spit and fell over, Ged finally started to laugh. A blue face was what rewarded Washu for laughing so much, the lack of air sending her nearly collapsing onto the moss covered ground and wishing she had one hundred gallons of water to help her sore throat.

"Well, I guess being evil solves the problem of being bored!" the girl concluded, grinning like a fool and jumping around acting like she was hyper on too much sugar. "What shall we do, oh Great Ged?" the little girl asked, trying hard to hide her need to breathe in long, hard breaths well, though her lungs simply screamed for more oxygen. "Great Ged? Well I don't know what do you think we should do?" he asked, devising a plan to make her show her need for breath. Slowly, while she was distracted by searching through some ideas to do, Ged jabbed her belly semi-hard and it sent her little body sprawling to the ground, great heaves of air sucking in and blowing out unevenly. "You need to breathe as much as your lungs need, I don't see how it's embarrassing to try and hide your need for air," Ged stated, helping the weak girl up to lean onto a stump. "Oh…be…quiet… I…have…my…reasons," Washu said, grinning to him as her strength began to come into existence. "Well now, are we going to do that Ancient Literature you seem to despise?"

"Noooooooooo!" the little girl cried out, and struggled to get up and run away. Instead, she fell flat on her stomach and her legs refused to work with her. Smiling dumbly, Ged grasped his friend's feet and dragged her over back to the stump. "Now wait here, this will be interesting, I promise. Plus it's a major thing to learn when you want to be the number one scientist, okay?" knowing he had caught her attention by saying that, Ged proceed to the east part of the moor, where a box about as big as him and about as wide as an aged healthy tree. Wiping his hands on his parchment colored tunic, the boy reached out and grasped the edge of the box. Gritting his teeth and pulling with all his might, the box, which was now revealed to be more than just a cardboard box, budged just the tiniest crack before Ged let go and kicked the stupid thing for not moving. "I'll try again, it can't be too hard, I've seen some of the adults come here often enough," what eluded him was that they were adults and were many times stronger than him. Ignoring this fact or simply denying it, Ged went over to the side where it could be pushed and shoved with all his strength and more.

Finally the block gave way and a secret room in the moor was revealed, it teetered and threatened to fall to it's side, but a good breeze that was on their side kept it balanced long enough for him to dart in and gather a few books and run out. Setting them down on the green moss, the boy moved to the opposite side of the large block and shoved it back into place; many bugs that lived underneath it were squashed when it scraped against the ground unmercifully. "Got them!" he shouted happily, picking up the large books and running over to where his friend was. The little girl, who had waited patiently for him to return, returned his greeting and moved to inspect the book he had thrown and she had caught. "Where'd you get them?" she asked, flipping through the pages, looking at the pictures. "In a library that the village keeps all of the ancient literature books in for safe keeping, there's even some kind of thing that keep the bugs and air out of their so the pages don't erode over time. I mean look, these books look as good as new, right?"

"Sure do," Washu agreed, handing the book back to him and waiting for him to say something. "Oh! Um, about the books, okay, first let me get over there so we can both see the words, you can read big words and understand them, right?"

"Of course I can! Don't go thinking that I'm any ordinary five-year-old midget! I'm Washu the Great!" the little girl with a big ego cried, and settled her little body so she could see the book he picked up better. "Let me warn you, there are some ancient words that are in the Gods language, no one knows what they mean anymore, so don't feel bad if you don't, alright?" nodding, Washu began to read aloud the first page.

"Documentary One: 17/6544/8900 Location: Planet Jurai.

"The blood and tears that have been shed are great, far too many. Many lives have been lost and I suffer a mortal wound, I fear that I will never see the light of day again,"

The words filled them both with sadness; the little girl paused in her reading and flipped through the pages. Noticing that some of them were spattered with dried blood, she stopped thumbing her page and closed the book, setting it aside. "Why'd you do that?" Ged asked, a puzzled face becoming more and more natural with him. "Ged…let me see those other books…" Washu requested, ignoring his question and flipping through the others as he handed them to her. A look of fear crossed her face as she flipped, paused, and then set down the three other books. "Ged! These aren't ancient literature; these are documentaries of the Kaniekyo warriors in their dying moments! All of them are just record of men putting down their last wishes!"

"Kaniekyo? How would you know about that?" the boy asked, the idea of books suddenly fleeing their minds as tension grew between them. "I'm not stupid!" Washu retorted, surprised that so much rage had built up inside of her because of some dumb books. "I never said you were!"

"I read a lot, that's how I know!" the girl answered his question, venom biting at her tongue.

"Hmph, well, if you read 'so' much, then why did you even go along with my idea of ancient literature?" Ged nearly hollered; his fists trembling slightly as he pushed himself up.

"I was trying to be nice! You always go along with my dumb-butt ideas so I wanted to let you have your hour of glory!"

"Oh? Is that all? You did it just to be nice, not that you really wanted to or anything, right?" he added sardonically, suddenly having an odd pleasure of letting all of this anger out.

"No! I wanted to!"

"Liar! All you five-year-old midgets are liars!"

"I'm…I'm…not lying…" Washu said, whimpering under his wave of rage. A few years later she would have found out a mood swing had just taken hold of him full force, but since she was so young, she just though he hated her.  His words had cut her deep, and she finally stayed silent as he shouted and shouted at her. He just kept shouting….

_'So it seems he shows his true colors…'_ that woman's cold voice rang again into her mind.

_'No! He's just…upset…he can't hate me!'_ the child retorted, then suddenly stopping in the process of beginning another argument.

_'Oh? Tell me, since when have you been able to read that boy's mind?'_ the adult asked snidely, it's cunning attitude cleverly making a trap for her by just using her words against her.

_'I…I don't know what he thinks…but I know for a fact that he can't hate me!'_ the younger returned meekly, staring down at the ground.

_'Did it ever occur to you that he might only be your friend for the thanks? Wait, don't answer that; answer this. Did it ever even once cross your mind that he may only be getting the pleasure of seeing a five-year-old midget brat with an ugly ego dance like a fool and kick the moors so he could have an excuse to be happy? Did it ever seem that he was just using you to help him be happy because of his miserable curse the panther seemed to cast on him? Have you ever thought about that?'_

_'…N-No…'_

_'Did you ever assume that when you get to be the right age, he'll use you for his own pleasurable benefits?'_

_'SHUT UP! HE WOULD NEVER EVER DO THAT!' _ The child shouted at the elder, anger flaring so high she thought she would burst at the voice even thinking he would do that. What was stranger still was that she had no clue to what the adult voice was talking about.

_'Ah, but can you tell the future? No. People change you dope.'_

Ged was continuing to shout at her, he even cursed once or twice. A few villagers had heard the shouting but had paid them no heed, probably just a lovesick quarrel. Washu shuddered as his words bit at her like snake fangs crunching defenseless lizards. Clamping her fists so tight her knuckles turned white, she suddenly interrupted him. "Is that what you think? Is every word you just said what you feel?" her voice was too calm, too serene. It caught the boy by surprise and he paused in his insults. "Hell yes!" he finally screamed in frustration, and whacked her left cheek.

It was all she could take. To have him go on and on about something so stupid as knowing what something was and then striking her for it…that was too much. She was gone before he could apologize for his stupidity.

She had to keep running, she kept at it until she ended up at the top of a tree. "I hate him!" she shouted to herself, "I hate him! I hate him! I hate him!" Washu shuddered as a breeze whipped past her. Curling up into a ball and getting comfortable in the cage of branches, she continued to say she hated him. Tenderly touching the side of her cheek that had been whacked, it was stinging horribly, a twig that had been caught in his hand had gashed her cheek barely, a little blood dripped down the side. It was nearing twilight outside; the sky was hazy reddish yellow with swirls of purple flying through.  Her wild pink hair, which was kept in a hat that looked very similar to a cheap artist's hat, was off and several loose strands of hair were waving frantically about. Her short legs wobbled, for she had put a lot of energy into them to run away as fast as she could. Curling up suddenly didn't sound like the best idea anymore since her legs were not cooperating with her at the moment. Pushing it off as a stupid idea, Washu lay down and started to think of why her friend had gotten so angry by something as dumb as knowing who and what the Kaniekyo were. Yet, with being so young had its advantages, she still had a lot to know about the process of growing up.

'What'll I do about this scratch?' she asked herself, wiping some blood stained on her hand on her loose tunic. She wouldn't very well turn her friend in, knowing what the consequences would be if she did that. Sure, his words had hurt her and she wouldn't speak to him for a very long while, but she still liked him as a friend. Her mind may be only five, yet her heart was still open to anyone even if they punched her and kicked her until she thought she would burst. 'Punch me, kick me, and I'll still love them,' the thought was odd yet comforting at the same time. Two stupid problems occurring in the same week, which was what ticked her off. First she got lost because of a bug, and then she and her friend start arguing over nothing except information, yeesh! Washu rested her small face onto the flat bark and let herself be calmed down, it was useless to try and hold onto hatred, all that did was make a person miserable. So, attempting to meditate and clear her mind, the girl closed her eyes and breathed in and out in a steady rhythm.

"Thank you for your patience, Neo, you've been a great help," Ellen said, smiling warmly to the patient teen who had had a good ear throughout the entire conversation. "Your too kind, I will see to it that she is upgraded in supernatural powers, she's earned it," Neo stated, bowing slightly, "I have to leave, my captain said I was to be back in twenty minutes and it seems that I'm now two hours and forty five minutes behind…"

"Here, take this letter. It was my fault we took so long, I don't want you getting in trouble for my cause, okay?" Matron requested kindly, handing him a letter.

"Thank you," Neo said, bowed again, and left the room.

Ged was instantly pounded by regret when Washu disappeared. Yet he knew it would be useless to call out for her now, she was too fast and she probably wouldn't hear him anyway. "Darn it…" he said angrily to himself, kicking the ground, "Why did I go and do that? Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Turning back to the books, he picked them up and walked back to the secret room, questioning him on why he had gotten so upset over nothing. Pushing the block over seemed to take an eternity because he was paying more attention to his thoughts rather than the task at hand. "I can't believe I cursed to! That's not what I do, that's what Kali does!" he nearly smiled when he thought of her and her ranting, most of the things she said aloud were quite funny, but he couldn't imagine being her friend. Finally the block budged just enough for him to squeeze in and put the books away. Coming back out into the fading sunlight, he shoved the block back and slumped down into some moss.

"I…am such an idiot," he said, recalling him lashing out against her. 

**_Author's Notes:_**_ Finally! That took so freaking long. As usual, comments are welcomed and flames are thrown into the ocean to fizzle! Sorry if some of it seemed a bit melodramatic…(Cough) I'm not quite the writer to stay completely on topic, so I tend to avoid doing romance themes (0_0 :gasp:) 'cause I haven't felt the feeling yet! So there! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah._


End file.
